Just under 2,000 Primary 7 pupils from schools within Inverness and the surrounding area will be heading to the Cameron Barracks, Inverness between 5th and 14th of May at different times to take part in a community safety project aimed at making them safe Highlanders. Primary 7 pupils from locations further afield in the Highland region will attend three satellite events held at Lairg (9 June), Portree (16 June) and Wick (7 & 8 September).
Safe Highlanders, established in 1996, is an educational event endeavoruing to tackle challneging issues of communtiy safety by enabling children to:
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Become more aware of personal safety.
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Make a contribution to crime prevention and overall community safety.
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Learn how to react to emergency situations.
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Understand the roles played by the emergency services.
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Foster good citizenship.
Each day day of this eight days event consist of three sessions during which pupils benefit from the activities in which they participate. Children are introduced to the event at the beginning of each activity and then are debreifed following the complemtion of their Safe Highlanders experience and asked to complete self evaluation questionnaire to help in measuring how much they have learned from the activity. During their day the youngsters will get their chance to experience a number of potentially hazardous situations, allowing them to participate in a range of simulated practical exercises. The scheme is based on the principle of learning by doing and pupils through experience will acquire life saving skills and knowledge on first aid, fire safety, safety on roads, railways lines and farms. Children will be presneted with the danger of electricity, buidling sites as well staff and volunteers working fo the Inverness Drug & Alcohol Forum will introduce pupils with health implication of misuse of alcohol or other drugs. For instance, at the road safety set presented by Northern Constabulary, the Highland Council and the Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service children are asked to judge the stopping distance of a car being driven 30mph. At the first aid set presented by the British Red Cross pupils will be shown how to diagnose and treat unconsious person who is breathing using Drs AB and the recovery position.
The agencies currently involved are the Highland Council, British Red Cross, British Transport Police, Construction Industry Training Board and Institute of Safety & Health, Health & Safety Executive, Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service, Inverness Drug and Alcohol Forum, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Northern Constabulary and Scottish Hydro-Electric.
The Safe Highlanders could not have been a success without the help of many volunteers who donated their energy and time to support the event. Thirty one volunteers will assit during the course of this year event and escort children from one set to another. As well number of young members of the 2 Ness Bank Boy’s Brigade will pack almost 3000 goddie bags for all the pupils attending Inverness and satelite events. The Highland Council and all the Partner Agencies would like to thank all the volunteers and The Boys Brigade for their support and involvement with this year Safe Highlanders.